National Football League

Tyreek Hill reveals Mike McDaniel called him out following playoff loss to Chiefs

Updated Apr. 22, 2024 3:15 p.m. ET

Tyreek Hill scored the Miami Dolphins' only touchdown during their 26-7 playoff loss against the Kansas City Chiefs, but the man known as "Cheetah" finished with just five receptions, 62 receiving yards and the one score in the defeat.

That may seem like a solid performance by the standards of most pass-catchers. But Hill is not most pass-catchers.

The five-time First Team All-Pro honoree had just three games with fewer receiving yards during the 2023 season, and he surpassed the 100-yard mark in eight of his 17 regular-season contests. So 62 yards in a crucial postseason matchup — against his former team no less — just didn't cut it. And his head coach Mike McDaniel let him know about it.

"The play against [L'Jarius] Sneed," Hill recalled on the "Million Dollaz Worth of Game" podcast. "The Chiefs, everybody seen the play against the Chiefs when [Sneed] slammed me to the floor. [McDaniel] called me out. He's like, 'Reek, you're supposed to be the f------ best player in the f------ league and you got this guy putting hands all over you like that. We pay you all this money for what?'"

Hill signed a four-year, $120 million extension with Miami in 2022 after being acquired from the Chiefs upon his request. He is still owed $72.2 million in guaranteed money, making him the second-highest-paid wide receiver in the NFL. But despite getting singled out for his large paycheck, Hill said that kind of reprimanding from a coach like McDaniel is something that motivates him.

"And for me, I love … that," Hill said. "Because I'm gonna take that s--- to heart and I'm gonna get better from it. That will never happen to me again in my life, man. If [my coach is] not holding me accountable, I feel like I'm not going to be able to get better.

"Obviously, the coaches can bypass that and just be like, 'Ah, he'll get better from it.' But if he's not saying nothing, the other guys in the locker room are gonna look at it as, 'Oh if 'Reek can do it, I can do it.' And that's not getting the team better. I need everybody to get better. Baby brother [Jaylen] Waddle, I got him up under my wing trying to teach him. I want everybody to get paid. Everybody deserves it."

Hill did not seem to take the outside criticism about the play involving Sneed too hard immediately after the game, either. He joked about it on X, formerly Twitter, following the Dolphins' loss, reposting a highlight of the play and saying that Sneed "jammed my ahh to Cancun." But for the second straight year after being traded out of Kansas City, he was forced to watch as his former team hoisted the Lombardi trophy. When asked on the podcast if that bothered him, Hill was candid.

"Yeah, part of me," Hill said. "The first year that they went, me and my wife took a trip to Tokyo because it was kind of hard for me. I don't want to look at no game. I don't want to look at none of it. … When they won, I reached out to all the guys. I was like, man, I'm happy for y'all. Proud of y'all.

"This year when they won, I watched the whole game. I was like, 'y'all, we got to win this thing.' I'm cool now. But the first year it was kind of hard trying to get over that hump of seeing the guys do their thing out there."

Hill seems to have put the past in its proper place despite his old team's success, and he has shifted his focus to his future with Miami. When asked what his goals are for his Dolphins future, Hill's response was simple.

"Two thousand (yards) and also win a Super Bowl."

[Want great stories delivered right to your inbox? Create or log in to your FOX Sports account, follow leagues, teams and players to receive a personalized newsletter daily.]

FOLLOW Follow your favorites to personalize your FOX Sports experience